Highlights
- •What is the primary question addressed by this study?The growing population of older people with schizophrenia has specific clinical needs related to aging and chronic psychopathology that have not been fully examined by prior research studies.
- •What is the main finding of this study?This review presents the state of the current research regarding middle-aged and older people with schizophrenia – ranging from phenomenology, clinical trajectories, underlying biological mechanisms, and treatments. There are critical gaps in knowledge regarding longitudinal changes due to aging versus chronic illness, key sex differences in this group, and mechanistically informed interventions.
- •What is the meaning of the finding?We present a consensus research roadmap with research gaps and future directions to guide the design of future studies focusing on the phenomenology, clinical needs, trajectories of symptoms and cognition with aging, and underlying biological mechanisms for this critical population.
Abstract
We present a review of the state of the research in the phenomenology, clinical trajectories,
biological mechanisms, aging biomarkers, and treatments for middle-aged and older
people with schizophrenia (PwS) discussed at the NIMH sponsored workshop “Non-affective
Psychosis in Midlife and Beyond.” The growing population of PwS has specific clinical
needs that require tailored and mechanistically derived interventions. Differentiating
between the effects of aging and disease progression is a key challenge of studying
older PwS. This review of the workshop highlights the recent findings in this understudied
clinical population and the critical gaps in knowledge and consensus for research
priorities. This review showcases the major challenges and opportunities for research
to advance clinical care for this growing and understudied population.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 31, 2023
Accepted:
January 23,
2023
Received in revised form:
January 5,
2023
Received:
November 15,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
